Rockledge is a historic summer estate house on
Vermont Route 207
Vermont Route 207 (VT 207) is a north–south state highway in Franklin County, Vermont, United States. It begins in the town of St. Albans at U.S. Route 7 (US 7) and runs north to the small village of Morses Line within the town of Fr ...
in
Swanton, Vermont. Architect Charles Saxe in 1918 designed alterations to an early 19th-century farmhouse, that is the principal surviving element of an early 20th-century gentleman's farm. The property was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1994.
Description and history
Rockledge is located in southern Swanton, on the west side of VT 207 south of its junction with Decker Road. The property is a square about in size, most of the surrounding historic farmland having been sold off. A stone wall lines the front of the property, with a row of maple trees between that wall and the house. A semicircular drive provides access at two points from the road to the rear of the house. The house is a -story wood-frame structure, with a side-gable roof and flanking two-story wings. The main block facade is five bays wide, with a center entrance sheltered by a Colonial Revival portico supported by clustered Tuscan columns. The gable ends on the sides have Federal-style fans at their center.
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The construction date of the house is not known. It exhibits architectural features suggesting it was built about 1803, but shows signs of modifications c. 1819, using technology not available earlier. Much of its inside and out appearance results from a major renovation by Clark Jennison between 1918 and 1920 to a design by
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
architect Charles Saxe. The home was extensively expanded, and formal Colonial Revival finishes were applied to its interior areas. This era is also marked by the landscaping on the site, which once featured many outbuildings and barns before they were destroyed by fire in 1980. The property is one of Vermont's finer examples of adaptive reuse of an early 19th-century farm property as a summer estate, in this case by members of the same family.
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See also
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References
{{NRHP in Franklin County, Vermont
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, Vermont
Colonial Revival architecture in Vermont
Houses completed in 1918
Houses in Franklin County, Vermont
Buildings and structures in Swanton, Vermont